Conduct On-Floor Trainer Evaluations That Keep Trainers Motivated

I have been the owner and operator of Northwest Personal Training in Vancouver, WA since 2000. Through my many years of managing a fitness business, I have learned that getting and keeping good staff can be one of the biggest struggles a fitness business owner faces. Surprisingly, one of the best ways to keep good staff is to continually evaluate them. People want to know where they stand, how they can improve and what they are doing well. Having specific scheduled opportunities to evaluate your staff reminds them that you care about their professional growth, that you care about the standards of your business and that you care about the success of your facility (and their jobs!).

Learning Objectives:

Learn why on floor trainer evaluations are so important and how to conduct them in a way that motivates your training team.

Understand why surprising your staff with an evaluation doesn’t normally have a good outcome.

Grasp why being specific with your evaluation feedback (both on what the trainer does well and what needs improvement) and setting date specific goals after the evaluation encourage trainers to want to be better and do better.

Don’t Surprise Them

At the beginning of each year I provide a marketing plan to my staff. This marketing plan includes everything from when to run specific promotions, to events we will host to when staff evaluations will take place. “Surprise” evaluations don’t normally sit well with staff members and there is no harm in letting them know when certain evaluations will take place.

Motivating On-Floor Trainer Evaluations

On-floor trainer reviews are one of the evaluations that we include in our yearly marketing plan. Knowing that their on-floor trainer evaluation is coming up motivates trainers to step up their game, review protocols and bring back best practices they may have let slip.

How It Works

Our Fitness & Training Director individually schedules the on-floor evaluation with each trainer. This allows the trainer time to review and be prepared for the evaluations and removes some of the stress that can come with a “surprise” evaluation.

Our Fitness & Training Director will remind the trainers of what he/she will be looking for during the on-floor evaluation:

Method of tracking client progress is professional and effective. I could cover your client and based on the current file, would have no problem knowing exactly what to do with them and how to train them safely and effectively.

Specific Feedback

Marking a “yes” or “no” to the above tasks certainly helps the trainer and the Fitness & Training Director narrow down what is going right and what might need a little improvement. Make sure to also record specific things that the trainer does well, what could use improvement and questions you might have. Finally, record two specific goals for the trainer to reach by noted dates. After the on-floor evaluations, the Fitness & Training Director should record all of the individual goals of the trainers and the dates by which they should be reached so that he or she can follow up with each trainer.

Remind Your Team…..

….that evaluations are an opportunity for them to:

Get an outside perspective on their training protocol with their clients.

Brainstorm on what might be missing from their client programming.

Areas where they are doing really great and areas where they could improve.

If you haven’t included on-floor evaluations in your yearly marketing plan, it isn’t too late! Remember, your clients expect the very best from you and your team. Make sure that your standards are being met and take the time to conduct these evaluations because spending time with each of your personal trainers (rookies and experienced trainers) helps your trainers hone in on what is expected of them and allows you to give constructive feedback.

About the author: Sherri McMillan

Sherri McMillan, M.Sc., has been inspiring the world to adopt a fitness lifestyle for over 25 years and has received numerous industry awards including the 2010 CanFitPro International Presenter of the Year, 2006 IDEA Fitness Director of the Year, 1998 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, and the 1998 CanFitPro Fitness Presenter of the Year. Her million dollar training studio in Vancouver, WA, has been awarded the prestigious Better Business Bureau Business of the Year recognition and the Chamber of Commerce Community Builder award for her community and fundraising efforts. She is a fitness trainer, fitness columnist for various magazines and newspapers, author of five books and manuals including "Go For Fit - the Winning Way to Fat Loss," "Fit over Forty" and "The Successful Trainers Guide to Marketing," featured presenter in various fitness DVDs, international fitness presenter, and a spokesperson for Nike, Schwinn and PowerBar.